an old writer and his words

  • NO MIND, NO BUDDHA 無門關 三十三

    Baso knows well only the ox truly understands the yoke but if you offer it the ox will not accept. Why would you seek to become the ox as it would be better to burn the yoke. A reflection on Case 33 of the Mumonkan (The Gateless Gate Koans)

    Lou Faber

  • EDISON, GO TO HELL

    My mother was a firm believer In lecturing, offering vast bits of knowledge, culled from here and there. One of her favorites was Edison’s 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration, and she leaned toward quantity, “It’s all about hard work, go clean your room, clutter will get you nowhere.” Sitting here today amid what I prefer to…

    Lou Faber

  • SENTENCE

    The hardest prison to escape is the one whose walls are built by the mind with fear and trepidation. It is like the open gate you dare not enter, fearing that you are leaving and will not be allowed to return. Atop a pole there are an infinite number of directions to go and only…

    Lou Faber

  • TOZAN’S NO GRASS

    As the seasons change I will stand with one foot on the highest peak and the other at the bottom of the deepest sea. But do not ask that I stand in a place where there is no Buddha, or my feet and legs shall fall away into the void. A reflection on Case 68…

    Lou Faber

  • BLESSING

    There is a blessing in silence that we so often deny ourselves, unaware that it lies just beyond the noise of our minds and lives. We crave it, beg for it, and hearing the beggar, shun him for the noise he carries like the skin he cannot molt. Beethoven understood silence in his later years…

    Lou Faber

  • UMMON’s KONSHIKETSU 無門關 二十一

    Ummon might say a pile of cow dung in the road – this may be the Buddha. Will you step in or walk around? A reflection on case 21 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate)

    Lou Faber

  • NANSEN’S NOTS 無門關 二十七

    What can you teach of Dharma? Nothing can be taught Dharma must be learned in not mind seek not-Buddha find no thing. A reflection on Case 27 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate)

    Lou Faber

  • OPTICAL DELUSION

    As you slowly approach it it grows perceptibly larger. This does not surprise you, for you are familiar with the principles of physics. What does surprise you is that the details grow ever less clear as you approach, as though they retreat under your slow advance. You think this strange, wonder what has gone wrong,…

    Lou Faber

  • SEKIKŌ’S SHORTCOMINGS 正法眼蔵 語十

    If you have no earlobes there will be nothing at all to hear. If he has no eyes, it is you who grow blind and your silence can drown his ceaseless tongue. The stick speaks louder than you both. A reflection on Case 50 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • ON THE SEDGE

    My wife pauses by the placard in the nature preserve and tells me that what I have been calling grasses are in fact a sedge known as sawgrass. She points out the warning that it’s serrated on the edge and earned its name from those who grasped it without knowing or thinking first. I feign…

    Lou Faber